First Week of Lessons

The first week of our peer lesson presentations was met with anticipation of how the day would be structured and how we would begin the rest of our semester together.  The first week set the pace and standard for the following three weeks.  Helen and Kaylee were the first to present their lesson, titled "A Dream Come True."  Their presentation revolved around fantastical costumes and fashion mixed with a sense of hybridity.  As our art activity, we had to pair off and construct our own piece of wearable art that represented a past dream we had.  The second group to go was Holly and Kristen, whose lesson "TeleDRAW Game" was an art version of the classic game of Telephone.  Their presentation focused on humor in appropriation, and the activity was fun and interesting.  We each started with an image and had to describe the image using specific words so the next person would have to draw based on our description.  After each lesson, the class gave feedback to the presenters and commented on parts of the lesson that were strong and parts that were weak.  Having to accept criticism in front of the whole class is not an easy task, however I feel that we as a group are very open and comfortable with each other, and this daunting critic is not as bad as it sounds.

Assessment

Assessment is an important tool for any teacher in order to gage students' understanding of what is happening in the classroom.  Assessment can be used a step towards evaluation, or a way to gather information that will allow the teacher to see which students understand the basic themes, goals, and requirements of the lesson or not.  An important note made by Beattie in this week's readings from Assessment in Art Education is that assessment should not interrupt one's teaching process, but rather be implemented into the lesson as further support for instruction.  While many art teachers may find it daunting to have to make an assessment strategy, it really is a worthwhile and important tool to help the students and to help improve the lesson for the future if the teacher was the one being unclear.  Two types of assessment discussed in the readings and in our class are formative and summative assessment.  Formative assessment deals with work that is in process, for example a teacher may walk around the room during an activity and get to talk one-on-one with her students about their ideas and what they understand so far.  Another type of formative assessment that Beattie describes is a simple, quick writing activity, called "Half Minute Note Cards," where students write down what they have learned so far and what still needs to be answered.  Any type of writing activity allows students to structure their thoughts and lets them, as well as the teacher, see what is being understood and what is not.  A summative assessment is usually more serious and deals with the final outcome, or the resulting grade, of the lesson.

In either assessment strategy, it is important to make the instructions and expectations very clear to the students from the start, so they know what they are going to be evaluated on.  In my fieldwork, I wrote out an extensive rubric as a summative assessment tool for my lesson plan, and my mentor stressed the importance of writing the rubric in a more student-friendly manner so they understood exactly what was being asked of them.  I therefore re-wrote my rubric in outline form, using bullet points with specific things I would be looking for to support my initial instructions for the lesson.  Assessment strategies are very important to plan ahead and they are a good support system for a lesson, as both an in-progress strategy or a final evaluation that will result in a grade.  These strategies allow both the teacher and students to really see if the lesson was understood.

Critique in the Artroom

Art criticism is an aspect of art school that can seem daunting and unpleasant to students.  Developing successful discussion and critique of student work in the art classroom needs to be facilitated by the teacher.  The readings discuss how important it is for the teacher to guide the students in taking control over the critique and helping them to learn something along the way as well.  Barrett states that it is the role of the teacher to ask the right kinds of questions which allows students to delve deeper in discussing works of art made by their peers.  A structured discussion is critical, especially if students are not sure where to begin or what to say besides claiming if they simply like the art or not.  Nancy House categorized these questions as "points of entry" in the discussion.  They are similar to the way I have tried to structure my "motivation" teacher activity when writing lesson plans.  These guiding questions can lead the discussion in the direction that we as teachers know is going to be important in learning specific information.  Of course, we hope that students will begin with answering these questions but will be able to make inferences of their own that we have not already thought of for them.  Much as we like to have students "make their own decisions" when it comes to art-making, we also strive for them to come up with their own interpretations or explanations of a piece in a critique.
While I wholeheartedly agree with Barrett's advocacy for leading questions, I wonder at the claim that the artist should not include his/her own meaning of his/her own work in a discussion.  I understand that hearing the artist's statement first would defeat the purpose of having students interpret the work, however if at the end of others' comments the artist wishes to reveal his/her initial meaning, I do not see this as being such a negative thing.  I have been in critiques where students correctly understand the artist's intentions and other times do not, however either way I find it interesting to hear what the artist has to say about his/her own work.  Sometimes when viewing contemporary art in galleries or museums I can not appreciate the work as much until I know what the artist intended.  I suppose Barrett is only trying to convey the importance of students interpreting what they see in front of them to stimulate conversation in the artroom.

Art Criticism

The two articles by Tom Anderson relate to each other in terms of evaluating and critiquing art.  Two aspects of art that must be considered in a critique of the work are intellectual meaning and aesthetic qualities.  The article Talking with Kids About Art stresses the concept that a critique must take place in specific steps, including description, interpretation, and evaluation.  This idea can directly be related to Bloom's Taxonomy, which breaks down the process of thinking, beginning at knowledge and ending at evaluation.  Both of these pyramid-style theories stem from the idea of using prior knowledge gained in previous stages to help develop a better understanding to make a better evaluation.  The second article, Aesthetics as Critical Inquiry, dives deeper in encouraging students to ask questions and think through them using their knowledge about art.  Anderson states that students must have their own ideas about what art is before they can begin to critique it.  These ideas can be useful in a classroom where students help improve each others' art and discuss why certain elements may or may not work.  Students are also required to back up their statements with concrete explanations or examples.  This strategy of having students work through their own questions and thoughts helps promote critical thinking and skills that are important for any classroom environment.

Interpreting and Making Art

Terry Barrett's book Interpreting Art:  Reflecting, Wondering, and Responding has some great insight into the world of both art critics and everyday people who look at art.  Much of the first chapter describes what it means to interpret a piece of art, claiming that is what makes it meaningful to different people, perhaps even different to the audience than the artist himself.  After various extensive analyses of The Postcard by Rene Margritte, I thought it was interesting that a quote was included by the artist who said himself that he strives for his paintings to promote curiosity, and that "people who look for symbolic meanings fail to grasp the inherent poetry and mystery of the image..." (p. 14).  Barrett tells us that even though the viewer's interpretation may differ from the artist's, it does not make anyone wrong.  I thought this was an interesting concept, because sometimes a work is made for a particular reason or with a certain value in mind, yet Barrett supports the idea that everyone's informed opinions or interpretations are allowed (though some are better than others, p. 225).  I feel that the book is claiming that a work of art only comes alive when it is displayed for others to interpret, however I also believe art can have meaning for the artist himself during the making of the piece, and even if no one else sees it, does Barrett believe no meaning exists? I wonder about this implication.
While Interpreting Art discusses analyses of specific works, Barrett's article "Approaches to Postmodern Artmaking" and Gude's article "Principles of Possibility" relate to ideas of actually making art.  Both articles begin by addressing some sort of breaking free; in Barrett's case it is designing pieces outside the confinements of an interior art gallery, while Gude discusses the need to break away from the national art education standards in order to create a stimulating curriculum.  Barrett's article describes modernist art as focusing on an "aesthetic experience" as opposed to conceptual thought, and similarly, Gude says modernism supports the use of standard elements and principles are no longer the only components to make exciting art or a successful curriculum.  Gude then directs her article towards the importance of play and allowing students to have a part in the development of a curriculum.  Gude mentions how the Surrealist games promote the emergence of students' imagination.  This article addresses many important factors and global themes that could potentially enrich an art education curriculum, including multicultural studies, social issues such as pollution, and the environment.  This article is valuable as Gude seems to be in favor of incorporating postmodern artistic practices into the classroom and moving forward, expanding upon more traditional exercises.

Games and Values

Most games in today's society seem to fall into the typical mainstream category of having "family values."  The two assigned articles discuss the creative thinking that occurs in creating a game specifically moving away from this mainstream idea and deliberately focusing on moral, social, and political issues.  "Grow-A-Game" does this by assigning its participants a variety of categories, a type of game to mimic, and a value to consider.  This is called the "values conscious" approach to designing a game with all elements involved.  Both articles state that even mainstream games portray values, some may not be as prominent or they may not have been intended at all, although they are still there.  "Grow-A-Game" forces participants to focus on these values and use them in their design.  This type of creative process can be used for a variety of age groups, both students and professional designers alike.

I have not given much thought to the values that are either emphasized (or not) in games.  I now appreciate how these values can be used to start new creative thinking and problem solving that relates to real issues, outside of those "family values."  I believe this sort of activity would be a great addition to an art class's curriculum.  It would give students a chance to explore a topic and educate others about aspects of their topic while integrating values at the same time.  A group working on one game also stimulates collaboration of ideas and problem solving that may prove to be a richer experience that working alone.

Thinking About Surrealism

I have always been curious about Surrealist art, however I never quite understand the ideas conveyed in the various artworks I have seen.  After reading the excerpt from Alastair Brotchie's Book of Surrealist Games, I am beginning to see Surrealism as a new way of thinking, one that promotes true intuition and creativity in ways other subject areas do not.  Brotchie states that Surrealist games "intend to free words and images form the constraints of rational and discursive order," which speaks to the idea that the unconscious mind holds interesting and valuable things, free from any sort of boundaries we may hold ourselves to.  I loved reading about the different Surrealist games that can be done individually or in collaboration, which would be great in a classroom setting.  I tried out the game "Definitions or Question and Answer" with my suitemate, which proved to indeed conjure up "remarkable facts."  We each had to write down a question, fold over the paper to conceal it, and then each write an answer to the other's question without knowing what the question was.  It was interesting that we both wrote questions concerning happiness, but our results were as follows:

What is something that always makes you happy?

When there is a light breeze rustling the leaves.

How does one find happiness?

It takes a long time to let go.

I have also done a variation of automatic drawing for another course where we were required to keep a sketchbook and draw from our subconscious.  For me, the mere fact that this was an assignment contradicted the goal of creating subconscious drawings, but I did find the task very challenging.  After this week's readings, I feel as if Surrealism does not have to be a challenge if one is in the right frame of mind by playing these games and allowing room for open-mindedness.

I found the Surrealist Manifesto interesting as well, as it encourages art educators to "tell [their] students that true poetic thought brings justice as well as freedom.  Remember together our passion and our power."  i think being able to convey this in a classroom setting would bring out passion in students and allow them to think openly in a different way than they may be used to, which may cause new ideas to emerge.  Importantly, these project ideas such as layering images or looking into ink blots can be appropriate for all age levels to encourage impulsive choices and the freeing of one's intuition.

"Surrealist games produce art, but more importantly they produce new knowledge-fresh ways of looking at old situations." (Surrealist Scientific Research Bureau)